Dominic Miller Absinthe (ECM)

Guitarist and composer Miller delivers power and subtlety in equal measure. Abetted by producer Manfred Eicher’s canny guidance and ECM’s flawless sound and studio presence, Miller draws on inspiration from painters of France’s impressionist period. His liner essay emphasizes the importance to his musical conception of works by Cezanne, Renoir, Lautrec, Monet and other impressionist painters. He credits, “the American imagination and vision itself,” for initially recognizing the importance of the French impressionism that began to flower in the middle of the nineteenth century, when the French themselves had yet to recognize the genius and revolutionary nature of the movement. As for the album title, Miller writes, “Sharp light and witchy mistrals, combined with strong alcohol and intense hangovers must have driven some of these artists toward insanity.”

There is no suggestion of drunkenness or insanity in Miller’s music. Rather, he manages with his quintet partners to create music that, for all its exoticism, is stimulating and relaxing. Could that account for “Mixed Blessing” being the title of one of his pieces? It is relaxing music; yes, but chords from Miller’s guitar introduce edginess that contrasts with the floating elegance of Santiago Arias’s bandoneon, that enchanting concertina-like instrument from the South American pampas. The brilliant brushwork-and-cymbals drumming of Manu Katché flows beneath, in and around the solo expressions of Miller, keyboardist Mike Lindup and Nicolas Fiszman, a bassist who fashions his supporting lines as if he had tailored them to order for each of the other four. Fiszman’s power throughout is remarkable, particularly so on Miller’s “Ténebrès” and the closing “Saint Vincent.”

When this album showed up, I intended to give it a quick listen. The quick listen became five times in a row.

Dave Young, Lotus Blossom (Modica Music)

Young, the bassist praised by Oscar Peterson for his “harmonic simpatico and unerring sense of time” when he was a member of Peterson’s trio, leads seven gifted fellow Canadians. His beautifully recorded bass is the underpinning of a relaxed session in which his swing is a force even during quiet moments. That is apparent beginning in the classic Billy Strayhorn composition that gives the album its title. With Renee Rosnes at the piano and Terry Clarke drumming, Young solos on the bridge section of all three choruses of the tune, his sound at once penetrating, soft and muscular. There is much else to recommend the album, but its character arises from Young’s tonal quality. Rosnes and guitarist Reg Schwager each achieve reflective, swinging bossa relaxation in “Modinha,” an Antonio Carlos Jobim tune played less often than many of the composer’s better- known creations. This version may bring it greater attention.

Schwager finds the swinging, humorous, center of “Red Cross,” a Charlie Parker “I Got Rhythm” variation dating from 1944. Schwager’s guitar gets first billing in the Dexter Gordon composition “Fried Bananas,” based on the harmonies of “It Could Happen To You,” but Clarke’s drum solo comes close to stealing the track. The veteran Bernie Senensky takes over the piano chair in Cedar Walton’s “Bolivia” and Jimmy Van Heusen’s “I Thought About You,” in which the fluidity of Senensky’s solo is advanced by Clarke’s inspired brushes and cymbals, and Young phrases his solo as if he were a horn player. The album closes with two guest artists who are horn players, trumpeter Kevin Turcotte and tenor saxophonist Perry White. They each solo on “Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise.” Young has another penetrating bass solo, then the horns circle one another before they end the track and the album in close—really close—harmony.

Paolo Fresu, Richard Galliano, Jan Lundgren, Mare Nostrum III (ACT)

This third outing by Mare Nostrum continues the international trio’s close collaboration in a series of albums that has enjoyed considerable success. With three exceptions, the compositions in this installment are by the members of Mare Nostrum. It opens with one the French accordionist Galliano titled “”Blues sur Seine” for the storied river that flows through Paris.

Among the pleasures of the album, which in toto is a pleasure, are the Sardindian trumpeter Fresu’s “Human Requiem, which he managed to make as hopeful as it is somber, and pianist Lundgren’s “Ronneby,” named for the town on Sweden’s Baltic shore where he grew up, and did so happily, if this piece is evidence. “Ronneby’s” intriguingly Nordic harmonic departures help to make it a track to which the listener (this one, at any rate) keeps going back.

Galliano occasionally replaces the accordion by playing with equal eloquence on the bandoneon, the accordion’s close relative, popular in Uruguay and Argentina. Nonetheless, it is on the accordion that he performs his touching “Letter To My Mother.”

The three musicians are as expressive, interactive and playful in Michel Legrand’s “The Windmills Of Your Mind, Eduardo DiCapua’s and Alfredo Mazzucchi’s “I’te murria vasà” and Quincy Jones’s “Love Theme From ‘The Getaway’” as they are in their own pieces. For all the lyricism and solemnity in some tracks, this album—beautifully engineered by Lars Nilsson in Gothenburg, Sweden—exudes feelings of discovery and the joy of collaboration. Here, Mare Nostrum plays Lundgren’s “Love Land.” Video courtesy of The ACT Company.

Atlantis Quartet, Hello Human (Shifting Paradigm Records)

If you visit the Shifting Paradigm Records website in search of Hello Human, you may be startled to see the legend, “Name Your Price,” near a box with a dollar sign and an empty space waiting to be filled. In fairness, the offer has a notation that reads, “USD ($8 or more).” After a dozen years together, more may indeed be welcome to the members of this tightly knit quartet from Minnesota’s Twin Cities. Their intricacy and interwoven playing are rewarding throughout the album’s ten tracks. The musicians wrote the pieces in what their promotional material suggests is a cooperative process regardless of who gets composer credit for any given piece. Several hearings have persuaded me that the quartet’s approach— relaxed, harmonically inventive, unpretentious—may be something many listeners are ready for. It’s unusual for Rifftides to include a video in the Monday Recommendation, but we’ll let tenor saxophonist Brandon Wozniak, guitarist Zac Harris, bassist Chris Bates and drummer Pete Hennig speak for themselves.

Wayne Shorter, Emanon (Blue Note)
Although Wayne Shorter’s saxophone artistry and that of his quartet need no enhancement, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra shares the first disc of this three-CD collection. As always, the Orpheus is impressive for the precision of its musicianship, but the combination plods compared with the exhilaration of the second and third discs by the Shorter quartet alone. Recorded in a London concert, Shorter, pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade soar through several of Shorter’s most sublime compositions. Minus the orchestra, the quartet is magnificent in “Pegasus,” “Prometheus Unbound,” “Lotus” and a lengthy exploration of “The Three Marias.” A graphic novel created by Shorter, artist Randy DuBurke and writer Monica Sly is included with the album. It reflects Shorter’s belief that free expression in a free society operates hand-in-hand with the essential nature of jazz. (The album has no detectable musical nod toward Dizzy Gillespie’s pioneering 1946 big band blues also titled “Emanon.”)

Monday Recommendation, John Scofield, Combo 66 (Verve)

“I Can’t Dance,” guitarist Scofield proclaims by way of his new album’s opening track. It may be the rare listener, however, who won’t be moved by his quartet’s rhythmic blandishments. It is difficult not to boogie around the room—or at least groove in place—as Scofield, pianist and organist Gerald Clayton, bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Bill Stewart expand on nine Scofield compositions that merge down-home verve with the sophistication he has perfected in decades as one of his instrument’s leading players. The number 66 in the album title recognizes the age he reached shortly before he took this powerful, subtle, quartet into the studio early this year. Subtle, yes, because for all of his energy, Scofield remains a guitarist whose harmonic shading is as important to his art as the swing that he and his remarkable rhythm section achieve here from beginning to end.

For the Rifftides review of a Festival performance by Scofield and the group that he proudly called “my rock band,” go here.

Monday Recommendation: Reunion 7Tet, (Rob Bargad & Others), A Field Of You (Barnette)

Once a year, a band of musicians who go back a long way together gather for a two-night gig at Smalls jazz club in New York’s Greenwich Village. Nominally under the leadership of pianist Rob Bargad, on their last visit they recorded an album at the New Jersey studio called Trading 8s. Bargad explains that they chose the studio for two reasons: its rebuilt 1954 Steinway B grand piano and the recording engineer, Chris Sulit. The result is a mainstream album of considerable variety and appeal, with compelling sound quality and impressive original compositions by the band’s members. They are Bargad, piano; Dave Schumacher, baritone saxophone; Joe Magnarelli, trumpet; Jerry Weldon, tenor saxophone; Mike Karn, bass; Jason Brown, drums; and Daniel Sadownick, percussion.

During their last gig at Smalls, a videographer captured their performance of Bargad’s title tune, “A Field Of You,” which he recently explained is a play on the words “A Field Of View.”

Allison Miller and Carmen Staaf, Science Fair (Sunnyside)

Pianist Staaf and drummer Miller pool their experience and talents in an album that also has superior performances by three guest artists with impressive track records of their own. Firmly established in the New York City jazz milieu, Miller and Staaf welcome bassist Matt Penman, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and tenor saxophonist Dayna Stephens. The tune list encompasses several compositions by each of the co-leaders. Miller’s opening “What?!” has her chattering drums leading into a vigorous display of Akinmusire’s trumpet kaleidoscopy (a word created for the occasion) and Stephens’ slightly more subdued but no less adventurous tenor solo. The temperature drops for Staaf’s brief piano reflections on the tune, but by the time her “MLW” comes up nearly halfway through the album, It becomes clear that the heat is unlikely to be off for long. Nor is it. The album is stimulating, satisfying and extremely musical.

Monday Recommendation, Emil Viklicky, Humoresque (NCML)

Last spring Czech pianist Emil Viklický’ traveled from Prague to visit relatives in the American Midwest. Never one to forego a playing opportunity, while he was there he gave a concert at the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, one of several he has performed there for enthusiastic partisan audiences. With Viklický was bassist Petr Dvorský, a prominent member of the Czech jazz community since his 1990 graduation from Jeroslav Jezek’s jazz conservatory in Prague. Drummer Ernie Adams is a veteran of work with dozens of major musicians—among them Clark Terry, Joe Williams, Stanley Turrentine, Joe Williams Benny Golson and Phil Woods. In Cedar Rapids, Viklický followed his customary practice of including interpretations of traditional Czech music. His extended arrangement of “Love, Oh Love” is a highlight of the concert. The concert is a highlight of his discography.

Thelonious Monk: The Complete Prestige Recordings

Any Monk collection without the Prestige dates is missing the pianist’s early partnership with Art Blakey, who is considered by many musicians and critics to have been Monk’s ideal drummer. As mentioned in the Rifftides Labor Day 2018 posting of their recording of Monk’s composition “Work,” this set captures the two collaborating in the Monk staples “Little Rootie Tootie,” “Bye-Ya,” and “Monk’s Dream.” The box also contains classic Monk recordings with Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, French horn master Julius Watkins, drummer Max Roach and bassist Percy Heath, among others. A highlight among highlights: Monk’s unaccompanied, determined, piano solo on “Just A Gigolo.” The informative liner notes by Peter Keepnews are a bonus. The Prestige Monk box is a basic collectors item.

Monday Recommendation: Luciana Souza, The Book Of Longing (Sunnyside)

Returning to recording, Luciana Souza is inspired by poetry. The Book Of Longing finds her drawing inspiration from poets of two centuries and singing three new songs of her own. Bassist Scott Colley and Brazilian guitarist Chico Pinheiro accompany her, enhancing the album’s moods, using counterpoint as commentary. Both solo with distinction. Colley is notably effective in Ms. Souza’s “These Things,” which has a nifty reference to Robert Frost. Pinheiro finds a rhythmic groove in Dickinson’s “We Grow Accustomed To The Dark” (1864). Ms. Souza’s sources range from the 18th century to the 21st and include not only her work, but also Edna St. Vincent Millay, Emily Dickinson and the late singer-poet-novelist Leonard Cohen. Christina Rosetti’s “Remember” (1861) ends the album. It is a lyrical instruction for thinking —or not thinking—about her after she dies.

Ms. Souza’s musicianship and sensitivity are as remarkable as ever.

Toronto Jazz Orchestra, 20, (TJO)

Something drifting down from Canada that is far less disturbing than the smoke you saw in yesterday’s post is an album celebrating the 20^th anniversary of the Toronto Jazz Orchestra. Arrangements by the TJO’s director, Josh Grossman, include an extended four-part suite in tribute to one of his inspirations, the 95-year-old bandleader and arranger Phil Nimmons. Solo high points in the suite are by the incisive clarinetist Paul Metcalfe and pianist Carissa Neufeld. There are plenty of other notable soloists, including alto saxophonist Jake Kauffman and trombonists Pat Blanchard and Christian Overton. Ms. Neufeld sparkles quietly in the appropriately titled “Reflection.” Grossman’s writing for the ensemble commands attention throughout the album. The TJO brings off his work with spontaneous-sounding verve that grows out of hard work. Two decades of togetherness can do that for a band.

Karrin Allyson, Some Of That Sunshine (kasrecords)

Ms. Allyson’s songwriting ability surfaced early in her career. In Some Of That Sunshine, it is on full display; she wrote all 13 songs in the album. With her superb rhythm section, two star guest artists—and on one R&B-ish track a spirited vocal group—it sounds as if she had the time of her life recording them. The songs range from the sentimental (“Home,” “You Don’t Care”) to wry humor that references the me-too movement (“Big Discount”). Violinist Regina Carter sits in on three songs, pluckily matching Allyson’s inventive scatting on the title track. Tenor saxophonist Houston Person is at a peak of his bluesy expressiveness on “Nobody Said Love Was Easy,” “Right Here Right Now” and “Just As Well.” Throughout, seasoned Allyson colleagues bassist Jeff Johnson, guitarist Rod Fleeman, pianist Miro Sprague and drummer Jerome Jennings are solid in support.